Worthington outlasts Jackson 9-8; improves to 2-0

Jun. 10—WORTHINGTON — Worthington's Post 5 18U Legion baseball team was pushed to the brink in its home opener Monday, but prevailed 9-8 over Jackson to remain unbeaten.

A short-handed lineup and five defensive errors didn't faze Worthington, who rallied from a three-run deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"We battled," said coach Austin Nunez. "We were up and then we let them back in the game, made a couple errors in an inning but they never gave up, we believed we could get back in it. It was a great win. I'm really proud of them. It's a win like that that again gives us more momentum as we go into the season so when we're down, we can do it."

Worthington was without key players like Tucker Brandner and Chase Byrne, but that didn't stop them from putting together nine hits and scoring nine runs, five of which came in the first two innings.

In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Emanuel Saravia walked and later scored on a passed ball before his team added four more runs in the second inning.

But before that, Jackson grabbed a 3-1 lead in the top frame. Ryan Fricke doubled to bat two runs in and Braxton Hall reached on an error and Fricke scored on the play. But Worthington quickly got the lead back.

With the bases loaded after a Jackson error and back-to-back walks, Saravia hit a long triple to left field that brought two runs around. Dawson Svalland then hit a sacrifice fly to bring Saravia home and Worthington led 5-3.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the top of the fourth when Jackson took the lead again. Three-consecutive singles loaded the bases and then back-to-back Worthington infield errors allowed three runs to score for a 6-5 edge.

With a runner on second and third, two RBI groundouts plated two more runners and extended Jackson's lead to 8-5. After that inning, Dalton Larson came in and pitched two key innings for Worthington. He retired all six batters he faced and it later helped set up a big sixth inning.

"It just trickles down from our top all the way down," Nunez said. "I think that's what makes this team really special, is we got some good seniors and it trickles down to our underclassmen."

A single and later a double brought Svalland up with one out, and he hit a 2-RBI single to left to trim Worthington's deficit to one run. He then scored on a passed ball with Ostrem at the plate. Ostrem followed up with an RBI double to complete the Worthington comeback.

He would then take the mound in the seventh with his team suddenly three outs away from victory. Three pivotal strikeouts solidified Worthington's comeback and improved the team to 2-0.

"The guys really believed. We had our top of the order, our main guys were coming up to the plate so I think that gave us a lot of confidence," Nunez said. "They believed they could do it, you know, I saw that look in their eye they're like, 'Hey, we're not done yet, we're not done.' We started to finally put the barrel on the ball. We hit the ball really hard."

Saravia and Svalland each went 2-of-3 with three RBIs and Ostrem added a 2-of-3 performance at the plate as well. Austin Gruis, Logan Kerkaert and Ethan Anderson each got a base hit as well. Kerkaert also started on the mound and pitched the first four innings before Larson replaced him in the fifth.

For Jackson, Kash Gilbert struck out four in 3.1 innings on the mound. Braxton Hall went two innings and Carson Doescher the final two outs of the sixth. The team totaled seven hits with Fricke going 2-of-3 with two RBIs.

Worthington will be back home at the middle school field Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Windom.